The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1887-06-15
KENTUCKY PIONEER LIFE.
INCIDENTS OF EARLY DAYS IN THE
OZARK AND BLOODY GROUND"

(From Harpers Magazine for June.)
The dangers which Boone and his
companions encountered in the fields
came to the very doors of their cabins,
and constantly monaced their families.
Indians lnked singly or in parties to
seize prisoner or take scalp whenever
an incautious white should give the OPP
portunity. Frequent combats (and each
combat ended, as O rule, in the death of
one or both of these engaged) had
habituated the men to danger. 1t was
later that they felt the danger of their
| wives and children.
Late on Sunday afternoon in July,
lIIG, three young girls ventured from
the enclosure of Booncsborouge to amuse
themselves with canoe upon the river
that flowed by the fort. Insensibly they
driftcd with the lazy current, and before
they were aware OF their danger were
seized by five warriors. Their resist
anco was useless, though they welded
the paddles with desperation. Their
canoe was drawn ashore, and they were
hurried off in rapid retreat toward the
| Shawnee town in Ohio. Their screams
were heard at the fort, and the cause
well guessed. Two of the girls were
Bctscy and Frances, daughters of Col.
Richard Galloway, the other was Jemima,
daughter OF Boone. The fathers were
absent, but soon returned to hear the
evil news and arrange the pursuit. Cal
laway assembled Il mounted party, and
was away through the woods to head off
the Indians, ii possible, before they
might .'each and cross the Ohio, or be-
fore the fatigue of their rapid march
should SO overcome the poor girls as to
cause their captors to tomahawk them,
and SO disencumber their flight.
| Boone started directly on the trial
through the thicketS and canebrakes.
His rule was never to ride if he could
/ possibly walk. All his journeys and
NUTS, escapes and pursuits, were on
foot. His little party numbered eight,
and the anxiety oi Il fathers heart quick
cncd its leader, and found ready re-
sponsc III the breasts OF three young men,
the lovers of the girls.
! Betsey Galloway, the oldest of the
/ girls, marked the trail as the Indians
hurried them along, by breaking twigs
and bending bushes, and when threaten
Ell with the tomahawk if she persisted,
tore small bits from her dress and
| dropped them TO guido the pursuers.
Where the ground was soft enough to
. receive all impression, they would i'm
| press Il footprint. The flight was in the
best Indian method; the India, march
cd some yards apart through the bushes
and cane, compelling their captives to
do the same. When creek was crossed
they wadcu IN Its water to distant
| point, whore the march would be re-
sumcd. BY ali the caution and skill of
their training the Indians endcayored TO
obscure the trail and perplcx the pur-
! SuerS.
The nightfall Of the first day stopped
the pursuit of Boone before he had gone
far; but he had fixed the direction the
Indians were taking, and at early dawn
was following them. The chase was
continued with all the speed that could
be made for thirty miles Again dark
ness compelled n halt, and again at crack
Oh day on tuesday the pursuit was re-
ncwcd. 1t was not long before light
film of smoke that rose in the distance
showed where the Indians were cooking
a Drcaskfast of buffalo meat. The pur-
suers cautiously approached, fearing lest
the Indians might stay their captives and
escape. Col. John Floyd, who was one
OF the party (hlmself afterwald killed by
lndians), thus described the attack and
the rescue III u letter written the next
Sunday to the lieutenant Of Fincastle.
| Col. William Preston:
"Our study had been how to get tho
prisoners without giving tho Indians
time to murder them after they discov-
cred us. -Four of us fired and all of us
rushed on them; by which they were
/ prevented from carrying anything away
except one shot gun without ammuni-
tion. Colonel Boone and myself had
each pretty fair shot and they began to
move oil. | am well convinced | shot
one through the body. The one lie shot
dropped his gun! NINE had none. The
place was covered with thick cane, and
being so much elated on recovering the
three poor little heart broken girls. we
were prevented from making any furth-
CT search. We sent the Indians off al
most naked, some without their mocca-
sins, and none of them with so much as
a knife or tomahawk After the girls
came to themselves to speak, they told
us there we're five Indians, four Shaw.
ancse and one Cherokee; they could
speak good English, and said they should
go to the ShaWanese towns. The war
club we got was like those / have seen
of that nation, and several words of their
languages, which tile girls retained, were
known TO be Shawanese."
The return OF the rescued girls was
the occasion for great rejoicing. 70
crown their satisfaction, the young lovers
had proved their prowess, and under the
eye of the greatest of ell woodsmen had
shown their skill and courage. They
had fairly won the girls they loved. Two
weeks later general summons went
throughout the little settlements to at
tend the first wedding ever solemnized
on Kentucky soil. Samuel Henderson
and Betsy Galloway we're married in the
presence of an approved company that
celebrated the event with dancing and
feasting. The formal license from the
4. county court was not waited for, as the
court house of Fincastle, of which coun-
ty Kentucky was part, was distant more
, than six hundred miles. The ceremony